Tuesday, August 9, 2011

So many of you made comments about our playing for a llama convention.......it is true, and now the sordid story. We have friends who at one time were into llamas, you know breeding, showing etc. Well it turns out there are quite a few llama folks around, and they have professional organizations, meetings, parties, etc.

The one thing about playing music, you never know where it will take you or what you will see. Rick and I do singer/songwriter gigs and then we have a friend, Steve Norris that we play with as The Overalls.
Well our, llama friends asked The Overalls about playing for their yearly llama convention which was being held at a State Park a couple of hours from our home.......and there was money, rooms, meals.....a good gig! Ask any musician! Now our friends knew we were acoustic folk, but that was ok, they weren't looking for a dance band or cover group.

We got to the state park that afternoon, had dinner and they told us where the hospitality suite was, that was
our gig location. Big nice suite, sofas, chairs, coffee tables, bar, they had a nice layout. The guitars were
tuned, we found a spot to set up and the folks began to arrive.......it was obvious they had passed another
bar somewhere else and had stopped by......but they were all happy and having fun.

We started the show, and people were talking and laughing.....they loved us! Pretty soon, our friend brought
one of his buddies over, they were smiling and holding this really big jug between them. Well, I am from the south, I come from a long line of moonshine makers and runners.......I knew what was in the jug.
They offered a drink to me, I laughed and said "no thanks, my family use to make that stuff, I know what's in it"......well they started passing that jug around to all their friends. There was a glow in that room like
toxic waste, and by then the noise was almost deafening. Rick and Steve and I looked at each other and howled, it was starting to get interesting.......we broke into a rousing rendition of Me and Bobby McGee.....
soon the dancing began, they stood on table tops, on chairs, and sofas......and not one piece of furniture was lost.

We closed the show a few minutes later, sometimes things are better left private. The next morning as the three of us were eating breakfast, some of the llama folks came into the dinning room.......you could still see the toxic glow in their faces, the plea for coffee was heard across the room. We were never asked to play another llama convention.